Lady GaGa and Beyonce, 'Video Phone' and the sexualization of tech

Associated PressR&B star Beyonce Knowles has postponed a planned concert in Malaysia following accusations by Islamic conservatives that the show would be immoral.STATEN ISLAND, NY--Beyonce and Lady Gaga have YouTube's most-viewed video, and as these things usually do, it has my head spinning. Brightly colored firearms, trippy/cheesey video effects, a boat-load of sexual suggestiveness and a song about, variously, using your video phone to record coitus, using it in the club, etc..

Where to begin? Let's talk about what's less remarkable but smart in this video. The Beyonce GaGa combo is obviously marketing genius--both of these ladies basically have unassailable pop star images right now, correct? So that's a check. Also, though they will undoubtedly be more trendy than classic--as in many pop music videos--the whole colorful, plastic firearms and green screen-ish background themes here are going to elicit huge reactions in the watcher, so that's a smart, if short-lived, idea (and reminds me of "Bootylicious"). "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," it should be noted, is a classic in my opinion, but as a video and song it shares a lot of similarities with this one. Obviously there's a lot of sexy dancing going on here, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know how that plays with the viewer.

Now, let's talk about what is remarkable about this video, and this song. First of all, none of the males appearing in this music video have visages. Either their heads are replaced by actual cameras (admittedly kind of a strange choice, considering the song is about video phones specifically, though one fake video phone appears), or they are covered in hoods that, too me at least, bring to mind the photos of prisoners at Abu Grahib.

Maybe that's my own thing, I don't know. But it's interesting nonetheless. Also briefly are images of a hooded man tied to a chair and a camera-head man tied to a target and stuck full of bloody arrow shafts. Let's be honest; women are the subject of physical pornography and objectification more often than men, right? So what is the implication of this song and video, in which Beyonce says "what, you want me naked? If you likin' this position you can tape it."

Looking at the male characters in this piece, it seems defiant, and Beyonce and GaGa are both known for challenging gender roles. Could it be that these two women are taunting the viewer's idea of documented sexual encounters? At the same time, it would be easy to make the argument that this video has a nonsensical, nihilistic element--another common characteristic of great pop songs--that a moral person might take issue with. How many young, impressionable girls will watch this video, and what might they draw from its theme and lyrics about acceptable use of their own video phones?